Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

We will be making these gluten free lemon poppy seed muffins at my class on March 17th at the Culinary School of the Rockies. I am sharing the recipe here for those of you that won’t be able to make it.

This is my mother-in-law’s favorite little muffin. When she came out to visit, I baked a batch and sent them with her so she would have sustenance for the plane ride home.

I like these muffins because they are not only light and fluffy, they are also high in protein and fiber and lower in sugars than the average muffin. Make that much lower in sugars. They are quite a refreshing treat and I hope you like them as much as my mother-in-law does.

For the bible on baking with coconut flour, see Bruce Fife’s Cooking with Coconut Flour. He is the master when it comes to baking with this very healthy, reasonably priced ingredient!

In other news, Heidi from 101Cookbooks.com has created a new search engine for recipes made primarily from minimally-processed, natural, sustainable, whole foods. It’s called Super Natural Recipe Search and it looks mighty good. I highly recommend checking it out!

These are delicious! The only trouble I had was the baking time. It was more like 30-40 minutes before they were done. We even made sure that the oven was up to temperature! And it made 8small muffins. But a keeper for sure?

I’ve made this recipe a number of times, one of my families favorites! Last night I wanted to make them but didn’t have any grapeseed oil, so I substituted avocado oil…perfect! It was always a great muffin but it had an odd flavor(could be the brand of grapeseed I used) but with the avacado oil there was no issue, it let the lemon shine through! Thanks for all the great recipes, we love them=)

Unfortunately, you’ll really be hard pressed to find a sub for coconut flour. It’s very unique in texture and how it bakes. Any subs will severely alter Elana’s recipe. Those flours you mentioned cannot be used on their own. The potato and tapioca are starches and the rice always needs to be accompanied by a starch or other gf flour. Be careful about using too much rice flour. It’s generally full of lots of toxic heavy metals and even though it’s gf can be very hard on the gut. Elana’s recipes are all grain free to be gut supportive. If you do choose to use rice flour, make sure it is sprouted for better nutrient absorption and less havoc on the gut. Make sure it is from rice grown in the USA to avoid those heavy metals. Can you do almond flour? Elana recommends Honeyville brand. We like it a lot. Try 1/2 cup almond flour for this recipe with 1/4 cup of your tapioca flour. You may need to increase your liquid a bit.

Finally a paleo muffin recipe that actually works! I made these last night and they are amazing! I’ve tried sooooo many paleo muffin recipes & they were all disgusting to say the least. These on the other hand are tasty, fluffy, light & melt in your mouth delicious!!!

*I used rice malt syrup instead of agave syrup because that’s all I had in the cupboard
* I also added a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice as well as the rind

I just made this recipe two days ago and I swear it said mix in the food processor. I also used honey instead of agave. I can’t remember if I used veggie shortening or oil last time. I doubled the batch tonight and they were super runny….any ideas why? Thank you for the great recipe!!

I am so thankful to find you ! I have had symptoms of MS that have not been diagnosed because of my B12 deficiency being so severe they think it is just the b12 /d3 def. I want to thank you.
My daughter has a gluten allergy, we both have a guar gum amaranth allergy among other intolerance problems. With it being hard for me to concentrate and focus some days you just helped me be able to go grain free along with other foods removed! I am off to buy a book! But my daughter can use this page to help us meal plan! You are wonderful!
Everything looks great! Any suggestion for replacing Stevie in your recipes? ?
Thank you again!

I just made these (they are in the oven now). They look great, and I am fairly certain they are going to taste good too, but how do they make 24? I made the littlest muffins (less than 1 TB each) and only got 15 out of the recipe. I am curious if this was just an error of if my coconut flour didn’t expand as much as it should have? I know it does expand when liquid is added.

We love these little muffins so much that I came up with a cake based on them:
1/2 c. coconut flr., 1 c. Almond flr., 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. baking soda, 1/2 tsp. Truvia, 4 eggs, 1/4 c. melted coconut oil, juice of 1/2 lemon, 1/4 c. raw honey.
Mix all dry ingred’s in med. bowl.
Beat eggs in a food processor. Add the rest of the wet ingred’s. and blend well.
Add the dry ingred’s to the wet and blend well.
Stir in poppy seeds by hand.
Pour into well greased 8″ or 9″ cake pan.
Bake 15-20 at 350F or until golden in colour and springy to the touch.

Thanks so much Elana for all your fabulous recipes. You are such an inspiration!

I just made these and they were delicious! I used melted coconut oil instead of grape seed oil as I didn’t have any, and they only made 9 cupcake sized muffins BUT otherwise a huge success everyone loved them! Thanks again for a great recipe!

Since eating grain-free I’ve been in a muffin rut. While I like almond flour in, say cookies, I just can’t get with purely nutty almond flour muffins. Today I tried these and they are incredible! *cries* :) I would not have expected the coconut flour to put on game like this! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! :)

Made these this morning! They were great and not dry like some coconut based muffins. I used 1T of honey instead of agave. It was sweet enough for us. Will make this one again and again! Also, I only got 16 mini muffins out of the batter.

I just made these and, well, they’re really eggy. Are they supposed to be like that, or did I mess it up? If they are supposed to be eggy, then can I add more coconut to make them more like bread? Thanks!

Love these- so light and fluffy and completely delicious. I went for a lower-carb version by only using 2T of sweetener and adding 1/2 t of stevia. I thought they turned out perfectly sweet and tart and will be making them again (and again, and again). If anyone is interested – I did make them in a full-size muffin tin and it made 5. Though I like to fill mine pretty full, so I bet you could stretch it into 6.

I saw you wrote something about being in the middle of chanukah when someone asked you for a christmas recipe. Right now it’s the middle of passover…and your recipes are Lot more sophisticated than many of the passover recipes I’ve seen… Could you invent any passover breakfast recipes?

Just baked these and they are delicious.
Subbed grapeseed oil with coconut oil
Honey instead of agave
Finely chopped dark chocolate instead of poppy seeds.
Tsp of lemon extract instead of lemon zest.
Amazing.
Thank you so much Elana!

Just made these…wow, so yum! I made these with some minor substitutions. I used 1/2 tsp lemon extract instead of the lemon zest. I don’t usually have whole lemons on hand. Also subbed the agave for honey and the grapeseed for almond oil. I fought the urge to add more coconut flour and cooked mine for 12 minutes. These probably browned a bit more than I would have liked, but they didn’t look done at 10 minutes. I will try again and take them out at 10 minutes. Also…here is the nutritional content for 21 mini muffins (I did not get 24 muffins from my recipe). Cal. 56, Fat 4.8, Carb 4.3, Fiber 0.6, Pro 1.3

Just made these as well and they are delicious! I made some substitutions: instead of agave I used 1/2t green stevia and 1/4C of lemon juice from the “zested” lemon and filled the rest with water. I also used extra virgin olive oil instead of grape-seed oil because I didn’t have it. I baked them for about 12 minutes. Very tasty!

I made these muffins this morning with a few modifications. I used 1/3 cup of xylitol and added 2 T. of water to replace the agave nectar. I also used palm oil rather than grapeseed oil. I also baked them in regular size muffin tins (made 6) for 16 minutes. The texture was very good. I think they could have a little more lemon flavor, so I think I may substitute one of the tablespoons of water for lemon juice next time. Thank you so much for your recipes! So far, everthing I have tried has turned out well!

Just made these muffins. I did not have grapeseed oil on hand so I used light tasting olive oil out of necessity. I also had to make my own coconut flour as it is nearly impossible to locate in my town in Scotland, unless purchased online. I used desiccated coconut and pulverized it. I normally use the coconut flour from Bob’s Red Mill. The batter was very thin so I had to add some GF flour to thicken it up a bit. Actually worked out well but I want to try this with Bob’s flour when I get ahold of it. I suspect that using that flour would work perfectly. The trick is to let the batter sit for a bit so the coconut flour can soak up some of the liquid. Also used half agave and half honey because I ran out of agave. They taste great!

I’ve made these twice now and they are delicious!!! I did add 1/2 tsp. lemon extract (I put it in with the agave to equal 1/4 C so I wouldn’t change the amount of liquids) because my family really, really loves lemon.

Oh! I forgot to add this tip! I made another batch without the lemon zest and poppy seeds and instead put about 1 tbsp of organic cocoa powder as well as about 1 tbsp of organic peanut butter! They were AWESOME! They tasted just like Reeses Peanut Butter cup muffin!

These were FANTASTIC! I subbed the agave nectar for 1/4 cup of erythritol (natural sweetener used in Stevia). I had friends try these and not be able to tell any difference at all! They were shocked when I revealed the truth about them being gluten and sugar free.

I do have an important question. I am blood type O and have somewhat of complications with some coconut products, mainly the flour. Will these come out as good if I substituted the flour for almond flour? The recipe was so fantastic that I am nervous to tweek it at all!

I am always cooking these up for my family, and every loves them although they can all eat gluten. My mom is always begging me to bake some and even my 10-year-old brother devours them. The best part? They’re so easy to make! Thanks for the recipe. However, my friend and I usually add a little bit of lemon juice and a bit of vanilla to kick up the taste. Pure deliciousness.

This recipe totally surprised me. Just made them (with brown rice syrup instead of agave) and when I bit into them, the taste was nothing like I expected! They’re more savory then sweet. I love them though, definitely a nice departure from the typical lemon poppy seed baked good.

I just made these coconut flour muffins, and they are wonderful. I added 6-8 wild blueberries to each before pouring the batter into the muffin pan and they added a nice flavor. So yummy and so healthy too! I was worried at first because the batter looked so soupy but I went with it and am glad I did…
Thanks!

Wow amazing! I can’t even believe they aren’t made with wheat flour! I must admit I thought that this time I was finally going to get a bad batch since I’ve been so successful with all the recipes i’ve tried. The batter was so runny I thought for sure I had done something wrong! but lo and behold they are perfect!! thanks so much for the great and SIMPLE recipes!

I have made a ridiculous amount of your muffin and loaf recipes and was just thinking about trying a lemon poppy seed loaf. Any suggestions on how to convert this into a loaf recipe? Or would the recipe work, as is, in a loaf pan?

Thank you for all your recipes. Anyone that I have tried has turned out and been amazing.

I tried this recipe, and the muffins turned out fantastic! Since I didn’t have lemons on hand, I substituted the lemon zest with lemon oil. My mom particularly enjoyed these because they weren’t overly sweet.

Hi Elana, I had nearly given up on the coconut flour..until I tried your little choc cupcakes, they were great…but….these lemon poppy seed muffins are a miracle! (I used coconut oil instead of the grapeseed) Thank you so much..

I discovered this website a few days ago, and I’m so hooked! Just wanted to make a note that I made these just now in a regular-sized muffin tin. I filled 7, but they turned out fairly small, so you could probably double it and make a dozen. I baked them for 21 minutes at 350, and they’re perfect!

Elana, I LOVE coconut flour. So wonderful to discover a gluten-free flour that doesn’t bake up in a big, heavy lump. Thank you!

These muffins are DELICIOUS!! I made a very light glaze type icing and drizzled it on top to sweeten them up a bit (icing sugar & juice of a lemon) and they were perfect! :) This recipe has definately been added to my “Favorites” file!

My dad wasn’t the biggest fan because he said they were a little “spongey” so I’m wondering if there’s a mod I could use to make them a bit of a different texture?..

I made this as a cake and frosted it with the coconut frosting-it was delicious!
I actually liked it better than the mini-muffins, which I had made once before as it tasted less eggy in cake form…
Because the cake was a bit thin, next time I would double the recipe and do a two layer cake.

Absolutely delicious!
Thank you so much for all of your passion and dedication to creating healthy, delicious recipes (and blog!) I have celiac disease and had basically resigned myself to the occasional high-carb gluten free treat that left me feeling awful. So excited to try more recipes, spread the joy and tell my gluten-sensitive patients about your blog!

Hi Elana,
I tried these muffins this morning, with a few modifications, due to the supplies I have as well as my love of experimentation. They came out great! This was my first time using coconut flour, and it definitely won’t be the last. I posted a couple of photos of my muffins to your flickr group, along with a link to my blog post explaining the modifications. Thanks for sharing your recipes, I know how much effort goes into working and reworking a recipe until it is just right :)

I made these today and my son, whose fiancee has celiac disease, is so excited to share them with her. He left a little while ago with a ziploc bag full. I didn’t tell him before he tasted them that they were GF…and he and his buddy both exclaimed how yummy they were! I’m glad I doubled the recipe. I added some Quest protein powder (sweetened with stevia) as well as the juice of the lemon. They are delicious! Thank you so much.

Carin G -I haven’t had this experience with this recipe or my others utilizing coconut flour, it is a bit more springy, though not rubbery. I doubt it’s the Australian factor, though am wondering about ingredients –what brand of coconut flour are you using, maybe there’s a difference in that. If you give me more info, I would love to help you. Thanks for posting your comment!

I just pulled these out of the oven and let me say, these are fantastic. I think I could eat about 10 mini muffins right now. (I only ate 3 so far though.) These are the closest thing I have tasted to "real" muffins, no odd garbanzo bean flour taste or anything. LOVE them. Thank you so much… I really thought I'd never have baked goods again. Next time I make them, maybe tomorrow, I will add a bit more zest and some lemon juice. We love the lemons in our house. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I noticed you had mentioned Bruce Fife’s book on baking with Coconut Flour. Most if not all of his baked goods require baking powder. When I substitute baking soda there is a greenish tinge and an awkward ammonia like odor to the baked goods. How do you adjust this? I’m thinking half the amount of baking soda to the baking powder?

Thank you Elana for the wonderful recipe! I absolutely LOVE these little muffins! My gluten-eating non-health-food-loving family thought they tasted great too! =) I added lemon juice like Christiane did + a tiny bit more coconut flour. I really appreciate delicious and nutritious gluten free recipes. Keep up the good work!

I loved this recipe! It came our perfectly and even my father-in-law and husband approved (tough critics of my gluten-free creations). However- I am going crazy trying to find the perfect egg substitute for this recipe for my grandmother. Any new suggestions anyone? :)

Made these “lemolicious” treats for Griffen today and they were a big hit. He wanted to know why there was dirt inside them – then I showed him the poppy seed bottle! Always enjoy your treats – thanks for the great ideas!
Glorie and Griffen

thanks for the great recipe! they were DELISH! even our “no sweet tooth” guest had 2. i subbed butter for oil and added a teaspoon of lemon juice (in addition to the zest of 2 lemons). love your recipes – coconut flour and almond flour are amazing.

I made these excellent muffins this past weekend at my parents. We all enjoyed them, but next time I want to up the lemon flavor…do you recommend I double the lemon zest or add some Flavororganics lemon extract (and if so, how much)?

Also, I made these in a 12-cup regular muffin pan and they turned out really short. I think next time I am going to have to double the recipe.

These were great! I already made 2 batches and received thumbs up from everyone! We’ve eaten so many…its a good thing we don’t need any drug testing because the poppy seeds we consummed would get us in a heap of trouble! :P

Elana, what a gracious response to the post about your thought process for using agave syrup. Of course, any extra sugar in your diet that doesn’t come from unadulterated fruit is unadvisable to consume. We all have to make choices, some informed and some not, about the foods we choose to consume. I want to be as healthy as possible but I still want my cake too. Removing grains and refined sugar from my diet but occasional agave-sweetened treats make me happy- both gastrically and emotionally. In a world where I’m faced with lots of bad eating choices, I find this a good compromise. This is what attracted me to your blog, from what I read, you share the same ideas about balancing nutrition and pleasurable eating, because, if you don’t enjoy what you eat, what’s the point? I love your blog and look forward to your email updates, thank you for sharing your recipes and yourself.

Ali -Thank you :-) I think you will like using coconut flour a lot. Your recipes sound lovely.

Alisa -That’s the beauty of coconut flour!

Emily -If you do make these muffins and substitute something else for the eggs please be sure to let us know how they turn out :-)

mandy -You’re welcome! I think Heidi’s Super Natural Search Engine will be a boon to many people looking for natural, wholesome recipes.

Meagan -I have used pure almond extract in other recipes. Feel free to experiment with it in this one.

Susan -Don’t cry. Well, maybe just a little –out of happiness after you make and eat these scrumptious treats :-) Thanks.

Judy -That’s great! Your desiccated coconut recipes sounds yummy and VERY satisfying for those long hikes.

Hayley -Thanks a lot!

alex -I’m so happy you’ve been making and enjoying my recipes. I’m not sure if a chia seed substitution would work for the poppy seeds. Sounds like a nice afternoon experiment ;-) Thanks for your comment.

cdecocina -That is great; I love that you are already working on a plan to substitute something else for grapeseed oil. Thanks for your lovely comment and good luck!

Y -Thanks. I hope you enjoy these muffins. Please let us know how they turn out.

yaelian -That’s a tough one. I’m not sure. I’ve only used the coconut flour I’ve linked to in the recipe. Though another commenter here said they had tried that and it worked out just fine –seems like it’s worth an experiment.

VeggieGirl -You have me at every comment you post! Thanks :-)

thepinkpeppercorn -Thank you. You have some fantastic food photos on your blog.

pigpigscorner -It’s a great ingredient for treats like this. Thanks.

Meagan -You’re so very welcome. I think you will find that these will satisfy your lemon poppy seed muffin needs :-) Thanks for your sweet comment.

Shirley -Thanks! I hope you can rule out any issues you might have with coconut flour so that you can enjoy these muffins.

Jenni C -Great detective work on substituting those eggs! Thanks for your comment.

Lauren B -I couldn’t agree with you more. Thanks so much.

Kristin B – Good call on the adjustments!

Terry -Yes! I knew we’d get to the bottom of it. Your addition of fresh organic blueberries just made me want some of my own; thank you so much.

Anna – Thanks for your thoughtful and thought provoking comment.

Sue -I have not ever heard of such a thing as “removing pesticides.” Would that it were! That’s why I buy organic. That and a whole lot of other reasons.

Christianne -Thanks for your refreshing comment. Things were starting to getting a tad heavy in this section before you stopped by –I mean really, it’s only muffins and cupcakes we’re talking about here, not world peace. Important mission indeed, food blog soulmate, keep me posted! xoxo

Quel coincedence… Just 30 minutes before this post arrived in my mailbox, I bought great looking lemons and poppy seeds at my health food store. They were just sitting there, waiting to be bought by me, I remember thinking instore. Since I never used poppy seeds with lemons before, I started to search the internet a little for some inspiration when I got home, just when I recieved your mail, food blog soulmate! Needless to say I headed to the kitchen straight away. I LOVED THEM!! Lemon is one of my favorite tastes, and the fluffiness of the muffin, with the touch of the poppy seeds are great and so tasty! I used the zest of 2 small lemons and included 2 tablespoons of lemonjuice as well. I cannot wait to share them with my beloved, but he is on a trip in Canada doing important business (buying chia seeds and stevia for me). O well. What needs to be done needs…
Thank you Elana for a fantastic recipe, AGAIN! As soon as the camera returns, i’ll post my yield of your inspiration on flickr. Hope you and your family are very well!
xox Christianne

These muffins look great. I am trying to find an organic lemon for the zest. If you use a regular lemon, how do you remove the pesticides? Oh, I am so eager to makes these. Thank you so much for the recipe.

I like a lot of what I find on your website. But still, I’m quite puzzled by your use of agave syrup, with it’s high concentration of fructose.

I did find your FAQ answer about subbing honey for agave, and as a person with impaired glucose regulation, I completely understand the need to avoid BG spikes. But dumping refined and concentrated fructose on the liver? I’m at a loss to understand why you’d do that. I know of no other food (or food product) that has such a high content of refined fructose as agave syrup.

If you have the time, could you explain your thought process about not just choosing to use agave syrup as your sugar of choice, but for using it in so many recipes (implying frequent, regular consumption)? Have you considered instead simply reducing use of all concentrated sugars/sweeteners or just sticking to unrefined foods that are naturally sweet?

I made just a small batch of the coconut frosting using the newly updated recipe and it turned out beautifully. Thanks for the tips. I think I needed to heat the milk and agave to a higher temp. I also made these delicious little muffins, and had a handful of fresh organic blueberries that needed to be used so I threw them in the mix. I love your site.

Just made these muffins and they are delish! I made them regular size (since I don’t own a mini muffin pan) and increased the cooking time to around 17 minutes. Very good tasting and I love using agave instead of sugar. Thanks Elana!

Hi Elana, the muffins look wonderful. Will have to look for some poppy seeds and try these out for a friend who really enjoys this flavor. I just posted some banana nut muffins with coconut flour. It’s so cool that you use this ingredient frequently too! The more attention we can bring to it, the better.

Elana,
I made your wonderful little lemon poppy seed muffins and they were devoured…and I mean devoured by my kids! Since your post on Raw Tapioca using chia seeds I have become addicted to experimenting with it. I had read online that you can replace eggs with chia so just for fun I tried it. I read that you can replace 2 eggs with 1/2 C. of chia gel (Chia gel made with 2C water 1/3 C chia let set for 20-30 min until thick). The first batch I replaced 2 of the eggs with chia gel and they turned out very yummy just a tad wet. So for the next batch, I decided to try replacing the oil with chia gel. I made the recipe with all of the eggs and replaced the oil with 1/4 C chia gel and I am happy to say they turned out great. I always add the wet ingredients into my BlendTec blender and this breaks up the chia too.

What gorgeous muffins! I am sure they are as delicious as they are beautiful. Since I found out I had an issue with coconut oil, I suspect I will with coconut flour, too. But, I want to find out for sure because I’d love to cook with coconut flour for the health benefits AND taste.

Oh, Elena. Thank you so much for posting this recipe! Lemon-poppy seed muffins are my favorite, and I have been looking and thinking about a gluten free version ever since I’ve been gluten free. I have found it here! I love coconut flour. Your recipes are amazing. I never have to substitute anything, (I do use coconut oil or olive oil instead of grapeseed). You are truly a baker after my own heart!

Elana, this looks wonderful! I recently made poppy seed bread (gluten free) and I loved it. I think that this might be delicious.
The only thing is that grapeseed oil is imposible to find in Spain, I will try to replace it by non-hydrogenated margarine.
If I do it, I will tell you about the result. Thanks a lot!

Chia seed gel is good as an egg replacer in my experience (for recipes with flour, not almond meal etc.), but psyllium husk powder appears to be even better! Kelly over at http://www.thespunkycoconut.com has been using it more and more lately. Everything I’ve made with it turns out great!

1 tbsp flaxseed meal and 3 tbsp water is a good substitute for an egg.
I tried this recipe using 2 eggs and the flaxseed substitute for one. Use all or part lemon juice for the water for more yummy lemon flavor!

I’m a huge fan of cooking with coconut!
I use dessicated coconut in many of my recipes. It’s unsulfited and keeps my baked goods light.
A favorite is my hiking muffin recipe loaded with protein used for 20 miles and thousands of elevation feet gain days. That’s my take everywhere, can rely on, no sulfites, no gluten, recipe I can count on.

Mmm!! Elana you are making me very jealous of the people who get to take your cooking class! I will have to experiment with this recipe and see if I can come up with something that will still taste good to replace the eggs.
Hope your weekend is fab-o-lous!

These look wonderful Elana! I have yet to experiment with coconut flour, I need to do that. Lemon Poppy seed bread/muffins is a favorite of mine. I make tea loaves, agave sweetened, using brown rice flour/sorghum flour – vegan. They are yummy. Since I don’t use eggs and thus no yellow color I use turmeric to color the bread.

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